1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a driving apparatus for driving a switching element having a control terminal and to an electric power converter having the driving apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, driving apparatuses for driving power switching elements having large gate capacitances and used for high power have required a reduction in loss and an improvement in switching speed.
Typical drive systems for switching elements include a resistor-capacitor (RC) system and an inductor-capacitor (LC) system. In the RC system, a resistor provided between a power source and a gate terminal is used as a current-control element. In the LC system, a coil is used as a current-control element (see, for example, U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2006/192437). Power loss of a driving apparatus with the RC system increases as the gate capacitance increases, as the gate voltage increases, or as the switching frequency increases. Power loss of a driving apparatus with the LC system can be reduced even when the gate capacitance is large, because the gate voltage is increased or reduced through LC resonance.